The Portrait Of a Lady.

By: Khushwant Singh

The Portrait of a Lady - Summary

The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The grandmother was an
old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past twenty years. She
appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty’, someone who had a husband.
She was short, fat and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait- an old man with a turban
and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t seem like a man who could
have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren. His grandmother used to move
around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist and her other hand counting the
beads of her rosary.
In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him up and get
him ready for school. She used to pack the things required by him for the day and walked him to school
everyday. She used to visit the temple that was attached to the school. She had a routine of reading the
scriptures. The author along with other children sat on the verandah singing alphabets and morning prayers.
They both used to come back home together with stray dogs roaming around them as his grandmother would
carry the stale chapattis to feed them.
Soon, the parents of the author who went to the city to settle in called them. As they reached the city, his
relationship with his grandmother took a turn. Though they shared the room, there bond grew apart. He started
going to an English medium school, she no longer accompanied him to his school, and there were no longer
stray dogs who roamed around them while walking back home. She, however, used to ask him about his day
and what he had learned. She didn’t understand anything as everything was in another language which she
could not understand. She didn’t approve of the new syllabus that he was studying because she thought that
they did not teach him about God and the scriptures. They saw less of each other.
As the days passed, he grew older and soon went to the university. He had his own room and this made their
relationship sour. She stopped talking to everyone and spent her whole day sitting at her spinning wheel,
reciting prayers and moving beads of the rosary with one hand. However, she loved feeding sparrows in the
verandah at dawn. Breaking bread into pieces and feeding it to the birds was her daily routine. The birds would
sit on her legs, her head, some even on the shoulders.
Soon, the author decided to go abroad for further studies. She came to the railway station to leave him off. She
was not sentimental, continuously recited her prayers, her mind lost in the prayers, and she kissed him on the
forehead. After five years, as he returned home, she was there, came to pick him at the station, was still the
same as she had been five years ago. She clasped him within her arms and didn’t say a word. She still used to
feed her sparrows.
One day, she didn’t recite her prayers but instead collected the women of the neighbourhood, got a drum and
started singing. The next morning, she was ill with mild fever. The doctor said that there was nothing to worry
about but she was sure that her end was near.
She didn’t want to waste her time talking to anyone in the family anymore but spend her last hours in reciting
her prayers laying on the bed. She died and so her body lay on the bed, lifeless. As they prepared for her
funeral, they saw all the sparrows sitting in the verandah around her, mourning her death.
The Portrait of a Lady- Questions and Answers

1. Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the
country to study abroad.
Ans: The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study
abroad are as follows:
1. First Phase: The period of his early childhood where he used to live with her in the village. His grandmother
used to wake him up and get him ready for school. They both would walk to school together and come back
home together. They had a good friendship with each other.
2. Second Phase: In this phase, the author and his grandmother shifted to the city as the author’s parents
settled well in the city. Although they shared the same room, this was the turning point of their friendship. Now,
they saw less of each other.
3. Third Phase: When the author went to the university, he was given a room of his own. This made their
friendship bond weaker as the common link between them ‘the same room’ snapped. She became quieter and
private and kept the spinning wheel all day long. She would feed the sparrows once a day and this was the only
thing that made her happy now.

2. Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the
city school.
Ans: When the author used to live in the village with her, they both had a good friendship. She used to wake
him up, got him ready and would also accompany him to school. All this changed when they moved to the city.
The grandmother was disturbed for the following reason:
1. She no longer could help him in his lessons. As he started going to the English medium school, this became
a barrier for her.
2. There were no teachings about God and the scriptures.
3. She didn’t like him taking the music lessons. According to her, music was only for beggars and harlots.

3. Mention three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans: His grandmother changed a lot since he grew up. She would spend her day at the spinning wheel,
chanting prayers and feeding sparrows.

4. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans: She didn’t pray the evening before dying. She collected the women from the neighbourhood and started
singing homecoming of the warriors with the help of the drum. The next morning when she fell ill, she said her
end was near. She started praying peacefully while laying on her bed. She refused to talk to anyone during her
last hours.

5. Mention the way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans: The grandmother used to feed the sparrows in her verandah each day. She developed a special
relationship with them. When she died, thousands of sparrows expressed their sorrow by sitting in a scattered
way around her in the verandah. They didn’t chirrup and there was complete silence. The author’s mother tried
to feed them by breaking the bread and throwing it in front of them. But they didn’t eat anything. When the
family carried grandmother’s corpse, they all flew away quietly.
6. The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to
know this?

7. Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for
each other change?

8. Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give
instances that show this.